Pittsburgh Pirates: Does John Jaso Hold Any Fantasy Value?

Pirates first baseman John Jaso added another accolade to his eight year resume on Wednesday night. After a memorable end to the season, does the veteran hold any fantasy value heading into 2017?

The Pittsburgh Pirates quietly exited the Wildcard race this season, but at least one member of Clint Hurdle’s team was determined to leave us with something to remember.

Not since Manny Ramirez has someone with dreadlocks rocked the baseball world, but Pirates first baseman John Jaso has a big claim to fame. On Wednesday night against the Chicago Cubs, he successfully hit for the cycle, the first in PNC Park history. While it’s an impressive achievement on its own, Jaso did so against Cubs ace Jake Arrieta, and the result has left a few fans buzzing .

All of this definitely came out of left field, as Jaso hasn’t done much since he arrived in Pittsburgh back in December of last year. Since then, he’s made brief appearances at first base, but has been lost amongst the hype surrounding prospect Josh Bell’s call up.

If you disregard June and July, this season has simply been alright for Jaso. With only three games remaining, he’s hit for a .267AVG, 7HR and 40RBI’s. In comparison to his other eight years in the majors, that’s pretty much all we’ve come to expect of Jaso, especially since he’s bounced around from clubhouse to clubhouse.

But now that he has a cycle to his name, and let’s not forget, a Felix Hernandez perfect game back in 2012, does Jaso have any fantasy value at all?

More from Fantasy Baseball

• 5 fantasy baseball waiver wire pivots to replace Triston McKenzie
• Fantasy baseball mock draft 2023, 12-team: Aaron Judge over Trea Turner?
• 3 fantasy baseball sleepers being drafted too late
• NBA DFS picks December 25: Merry Bucking Christmas
• Fantasy Baseball: Hot pitchers worthy of starting this weekend

For the keeper league owner, no way. For people in DFS leagues, possibly.

The thing with Jaso is, he won’t play everyday, and that’s never going to change. He didn’t receive the start on Thursday night against the Cubs, purely due to the fact that Bell is the starter, and will be going forward.

Where he does hold value though is on every other day. Since he’s likely to fit into a pinch hitter role again next season, Jaso days in the field will surely be limited next season. There’s really no spot available for him in the Pirates’ lineup, but that’s not the reason Pittsburgh signed him anyway.

Jaso was signed to get on base, particularly against right-handed pitching. The left-handed hitter has an above league average slash line against righties in 2016, standing at .279/.359/.427/.786. The best thing about Jaso though, is he makes contact on good pitches.

The biggest concern surrounding Jaso in the early stages of the season for fantasy owners was his tendency to groundout. His power projections looked to be low, but Jaso has successfully stopped swinging at pitches outside of the zone, and as a result has a career high total base number of 151.

At 33, Jaso only merits a bench spot for owners, and hopefully his decreased workload on defense next season leads to even better offensive numbers. Historically speaking, Jaso may have been in the right place at the right time, and if you owned a share of him this season in any league format, it’s likely you were disappointed.

Next: Rockies David Dahl: 2017 Breakout Candidate

Jaso is owned in only 4.3% of leagues, but is worth a look next year for infield depth and those with on base percentage as a scoring category. There is a reason the Pirates once batted him leadoff, and if he remains in Pittsburgh through the offseason, he might be a nice waiver wire addition at some point next year.